heard in Luke xvi. 19, &c. the | Why proceed on so narrow a sys other in Rev. vii. 9-12. These are a few random thoughts, but if properly attended to and improved, they may be as advantageous to the soul as any public ordinances whatever. May the Lord Jesus bring and keep you, and those that are dear to you, at the cross, to see and sing the wonders of redeeming love, till called up higher to sing eternal praises with all his saints; and may we all attain to the repentance of PETER, the faith of PAUL, the love of JOHN; and may grace, mercy, and peace be with you, and with Your assured Friend, in the best of bonds, JOHN THORNTON. COMPARATIVE VIEW tem? Why not act on the general principles of Christian philanthropy? Certainly it is highly desirable that the contributions of individuals and the funds of these local associations, should be employed in the manner that promises to be most useful in promoting the grand cause; and this, it is obvious, must often vary with changing circumstances. There are two general considerations, which, I apprehend, should have considerable weight in all questions of this kind: First, What is the extent of the establish ments of the different Missionary Societies, and what measure of success either has resulted, or is likely to result from their labours? Se condly, What is the state of the funds of the different Missionary Of the Missions, Funds, &c. of diffe- Societies, and what proportion do rent Missionary Societies. they bear to the number and im From the Edinburgh Christian Instructor.portance of their missions among It gives me the highest satisfac- the Heathen? The missionary lation to observe the increasing atten- bours of the United Brethren have tion and support which the cause been more extensive, and the sucof Christian missions is receiving, cess which has attended their exerboth in England and in this coun- tions have been greater than the try. I feel a deep interest in all the labours and success of all other Societies which have in view this Protestant Christians in the present grand and noble object; but, at the age put together; yet are they in a same time, there is none of them to great measure overlooked by the which I have such a partiality, as religious world, though it is with to wish that it should engross an peculiar satisfaction that I have of undue proportion of the patronage late observed these missions receivof the religious world, while others, ing an increased degree of public perhaps of equal or even greater attention. But I can even conceive importance, are left to languish for a case in which the establishments want of funds. On this subject, I of a missionary society may be comam inclined to think that the Chris-paratively small, and yet it may be tian public are not sufficiently in- more the duty of individuals and of formed, and do not always act with local associations to contribute to due discrimination. Numbers of lo- its funds, than even to a society cal associations have of late been whose missions are far more numeformed for the support of missions rous and far more extensive. The among the Heathen; but, in many principal establishment of the Edininstances, they are instituted in be- burgh Missionary Society is in the half chiefly of a particular society. south of Russia; yet if the funds of Now, whether this be the Edin- that society should happen to be burgh, the London, the Baptist, or low and unequal to the support of the Moravian Missionary Society, I this single mission, it would cerwould equally condemn the princi-tainly be more adviseable to afford ple on which they are constituted. it pecuniary assistance, that to send it to another society, which, al- | last report of the Society, there are at present fifty-four persons employed as missionaries. though its operations may be more extensive, is supported more in proportion to the measure of its necessities. According to these principles, the contributions of individuals, and the funds of our auxiliary associations, may at one time be appropriated with most advantage to one society, while at another it may be most useful to devote them to a different institution. The number of persons baptized by the missionaries of this Society since its commencement, amounts, according to the best accounts we have been able to obtain, to about seven or eight hundred. The missionaries of this Society have published the New Testament in the Chinese language, and the three first Gospels in the Telinga, and they propose translating and publishing the rest of the Holy Scriptures in these languages, and also in the Kurnata. Such have been the operations of this Society: its funds next demand our attention. With the view of assisting the friends of Christian missions to judge where they may at present employ their contributions in the most useful manner, I beg leave to lay before your readers a comparative statement of the operations of the London and Baptist Missionary Societies, and of the United Brethren, with a short account of the state of their respective funds. The London Missionary Society. This Society has established mis-ed, and they are now in a very floursions in Otaheite, in various parts of South Africa, in several places in India, in Ceylon, China, Java, Trinidad, Berbice, Demerara, and North America. In these places, according to the A few years ago, the funds of the London Missionary Society had sunk considerably below its expenditure, but within the last two years they have been completely recruit the following statement of its reishing condition, as is evident from ceipts and disbursements extracted from the volume containing the last missionary sermons : * We wish the writer of this paper had been a little more explicit in his informa tion respecting some of these Items. For instance, are we to understand that the London Missionary Society has the enormous sum of Twenty thousand pounds, vested in the public funds at the moment that they are soliciting subscriptions throughout every part of the country? Yet that sum they must have in order to receive an annual Dividend of £1,037 14 0. But surely there is some mistake in this matter. We shall be obliged to any of our readers who understand the case, to explain it to us. EDIT From this statement it appears, that | ing statement has been lately given while the expenditure of the London Missionary Society amounted last year to £12,591, it possessed in Exchequer bills a balance of upwards of £7000; and to this I may add, that during the following six months the receipts appeared to be greatly on the increase, having amounted, according to the accounts published in the Evangelical Magazine, to no less than ten or twelve thousand pounds. The Baptist Missionary Society. of their operations in a circular letter now before me. "1. The whole Bible has, for several years, been translated into Bengalee, the fourth edition of which is now in the press. 2. The whole New Testament has been completed in four other languages, viz. Sungskrit, Orissa, Mahratta, and Hindee, which are circulated to a great extent, and read with great avidity. 3. Dr. Marshman has translated the whole New Testament into Chinese, and printed the three first gospels. The Old Testament is translated to the second book of Samuel, and commenced printing. 4. Progress has been made, more or less, in trans The East Indies have been the chief scene of the operations of this Society. Serampore, on the river Hoogley, is the principal seat of the mission which they have esta-lating and printing the New Testablished; but besides this place, there are eighteen other stations occupied by the missionaries of this Society, among which are Calcutta, Patna, Agra, Bombay, Ceylon, the Burman empire, Java, and Jamaica. The number of persons regularly employed in preaching the gospel in these places is between thirty and forty; only it is proper to remark, that many of these are natives of Bengal or the neighbouring countries, who are supported at much less expense than European missionaries. Since the commencement of their labours, the Baptist missionaries have baptized upwards of five hundred persons, Hindoos, Mahommedans, Armenians, Portuguese, and others. It is necessary, however, to add, that as they baptize only adults, who are capable of making a profession of their own faith, this number is necessarily smaller than if they had, as other missionaries, baptized the children also of the converts. ment in the following languages: Assamese, Kurnata, Nepalese, Maldivian, Brij, Basa, Cashmirean, Sikh, Guzzeratee, Burman, Telinga. 5. The missionaries are also printing, for the Calcutta Bible Society, the New Testament in Cingalese, Persian, Tamul, Hindostanee, and Malay." From this statement it appears, that there are at present no fewer than twenty-one translations of the Holy Scriptures under the care of the Baptist Missionaries. The annual expenditure of the Baptist Missionary Society has generally been about £6000, but from the circular letter now before me, which is dated July 1814, it appears that this year it has amounted to upwards of £9000, exclusive of the expences of sending out two missionaries to the East Indies, and another is expected soon to sail to the same quarter. By these means the funds of the Society are totally exhausted; but they have hitherto found a simple statement of facts sufficient to interest the Christian Public in their behalf, and they doubt not of receiving that generous assistance from the friends of religion, which their present emer But the great work in which the Baptist missionaries have been employed, is the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the languages of the East. Here their labours are absolutely unparalleled either in an-gency requires. cient or modern times. The follow happy to observe, that the Brethren's missions are beginning to be better known by Christians of other denominations; and of this I am confident, that the better they are From these statements it appears, that the funds of the London Missionary Society are, at present, considerably above their expenditure; that those of the Baptist Missionary Society are totally exhaust The United Brethren. We come now to the labours of this very extraordinary class of men. From a short account of their missions, which appeared in the Chris-known, the more will they be adtian Instructor for January 1814, it mired, and the more liberally will appears that they have no fewer they be supported. than thirty-three settlements in different parts of the heathen world, namely, in the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Jan, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbadoes, and St. Christopher's; in Greenland, in Labrador, in North America, in Southed; and that those of the United America, in Tartary, and at the Brethren are not only exhausted, Cape of Good Hope. but that these excellent men are deeply involved in debt on account of their missions, and have little prospect of being extricated from their pecuniary embarrassments, unless Christians of other denominations come forward with cheer În these settlements they had in the year 1812, no less than one hundred and fifty-seven missionaries. Under the care of these missionaries, there were no fewer than twenty-seven thousand, four hun-fulness and liberality to their supdred converts. But while the missionary settlements of the United Brethren are so numerous and so important, it is with deep regret that I add, the funds for their support are much more than exhausted. Of late years, the expenditure, on account of the Brethren's missions, has risen to £8000; and while the expences have increased, their resources have been materially diminished, in consequence of the ravages of war among their congregations on the continent. A twelvemonth ago, it was supposed that the debts of the Brethren, on account of their missions among the Heathen, would amount to four thousand pounds; and though since that time, a considerable sum has been raised, both in England and in Scotland, yet we have reason to believe it is by no means adequate to the payment of their debts, and still less to the continued support of their highly important labours. I cannot, however, allow myself for a moment to think, that they will be permitted to struggle, and still less, to sink under these embarrassments. I am VOL. I. port. In laying these statements before your readers, I have no other end in view than to afford the religious public some assistance in applying their contributions for the propagation of Christianity among the Heathen, in those quarters where they are most needed, and where at present they are most likely to be useful. Wheu the funds of the London Missionary Society were in a declining state, I embraced such opportunities as I had, of calling the attention of my friends and acquaintances to the urgency of their wants; and should they ever again be in similar circumstances, I would not be backward to perform the same service. It is only because their funds are at present in so flourishing a condition, while those of the Baptist Missionary Society, and especially of the United Brethren, are so low, that I have been induced to send you these remarks, in the hope that they may be of some use in promoting the general cause of the propagation of Christianity among the Heathen. T PHILANDER. ON THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. SIR, can it be affirmed in truth, that the word, or doctrine, of Christ dwells in them richly IN ALL WISDOM! In your Magazine, No. III. p. 94. I find several queries proposed for consideration by some of your correspondents, on two of which I shall, with permission, offer a few remarks. One of these queries is, "What is to be understood by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?" (Your correspondent uses the term "Ghost," but I do not like that old and obsolete Saxon word, especially when applied to a Divine person, and therefore beg leave to substitute the word "Spirit," in its stead.) In answer to this question I remark, that if we carefully attend to the New Testament, we shall find, John the Baptist, who officiated as the harbinger of his Lord and Master, announcing his immediate advent, calling upon the Jews to receive their promised Messiah, and upon a profession of their repentance, baptizing with water such as received his testimony; but he added, "He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to loose, he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Matt. iii. 11. We have the same thing mentioned in Mark i. 8. and in Luke iii. 16. Two of the evangelists add to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the words "and with fire." I HAVE always regarded it as one of the primary advantages attending religious Magazines, that they furnish to all who are engaged in the study of the Scriptures, an easy and eligible medium of stating any difficulties they may have met with in exploring the unfathomable mines of divine truth, and of obtaining from those who are better instructed, a solution of them: nor do I think that the pages of these journals can be more profitably employed than in illustrating the lively oracles; correcting popular mistakes, which have gained, through time, a kind of inveterate standing; and removing pernicious prejudices, to which, alas! we are all of us more or less subject, but which, in proportion as they prevail, must necessarily darken the human mind, and impede the circulation of religious knowledge. It is a lamentable consideration, that even real Christians, I speak of the generality of them, are so little engaged in having recourse to the Scriptures themselves for an explanation of their own meaning. We sit down to read a chapter in the Bible, and presently meet with something that we do not clearly comprehend; immediately we fly Now it is obvious, that whatever to commentators, or the writings of be intended by the baptism of the some favourite divine, which, in- Holy Spirit, it is not water-bapstead of clearing up the difficulty, tism; for John tells the Jews that probably much enhances it: where-Christ should bestow it upon those as had we bestowed that same time whom he was now baptizing with and attention in a careful examin-water. If this require any further ation of the word of God, with fer-proof, it may be had from the convent prayer to the Father of lights duct and language of the apostles, for the enlightening influences of his Holy Spirit, we had assuredly found ourselves more amply compensated. The scriptures are given by inspiration of God, and are abundantly, profitable for all the purposes of the people of God in this world-but of how few of them Peter and Paul. For with regard to the former, we read that when he saw the Gentiles baptized with the Holy Spirit, he adduced it as an unquestionable argument why they should now be baptized with water. See Acts x. 44-48, and ch. xi. 15-18. And with respect to |